of the regard of oneness, although He is not in any place, He is all-present and all-seeing in all places. There is no division in His regarding and acting towards the creation. He performs every task at the same time, in all places, without difficulty, without hindrance.

Thus, it is through these mysteries of the assistance of unity, facility of unity, and manifestation of oneness, that when all beings are attributed to a single Maker, the creation of all of them becomes as simple and easy as that of a single being. And each being can be as valuable as all beings as regards the fineness of its art. This truth is demonstrated by there being within the boundless plenitude of beings endless subtleties of art in every one of them. If the beings are not attributed directly to a single Maker, each becomes as problematical as all beings and the value of all of them decreases, it falls to that of a single being. If it were the case, either nothing would come into existence, or if it did, it would be without value, worthless.

This mystery led the Sophists, who were the most advanced philosophers, to realize that the path of associating partners with God was infinitely more difficult than the way of truth and path of affirming divine unity; that it was irrational to the utmost degree. So because they had averted their faces from the way of truth and looked to that of unbelief and misguidance, they were compelled to renounce their reasons and deny the existence of everything.

From The Twentieth Letter

5. The Renewal of Belief and the Highway of the Qur'an

5. The Renewal of Belief and the Highway of the Qur'an

You ask concerning the wisdom contained in [the Hadith]: "Renew your belief by means of 'There is no god but God.'" [^1] The wisdom in it has been mentioned in many of the Words and one aspect of it is as follows:

[^1]:Musnad, ii, 359; al-Mundhirī, al-Targhīb wa'l-Tarhīb, ii, 415; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 256; al-Haythamī, Majma'al-Zawā'id, i, 52.

Since man himself and the world in which he lives are being continuously renewed, he needs constantly to renew his faith. For in reality each individual human being consists of many individuals. He may be considered a different individual to the number of the years of his life, or to the number of its days or even hours. For since a single individual is subject to time, he is like a model and each passing day clothes him in the form of another individual.